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Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Absolutely, and the numbers are likely higher comparing which areas you're comparing in Canada and the US.
Racism, homophobia, sexism, bigotry... these are all alive and well in far greater amounts that most people are willing to admit. The problem is that we allow an "acceptable" amount of it (not just legally, free speech protects it and it ought to) but as a society. It's easier to let problem comments slide, or laugh them off, than it is to confront them. We weigh the intent behind the comment which is good sometimes, but we're not always skilled in measuring that intent, nor should it be our habit to give the benefit of the doubt to everyone.
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Actually, the opposite is true. I can't find it right now, but a poll earlier this year showed Canadians' overestimate how widespread bigotry is. Canadians thought something like 40 per cent of their fellow-citizens believed homosexuality was morally wrong, but in fact only 15 per cent believe that. There were similar numbers around the question of whether we should encourage women to enjoy every freedom men enjoy - Canadians thought far more people were opposed to that ideal than were in fact opposed.
The problem is social media acts as a megaphone without any kind of context. Depending in where you look, you can find whole communities of people who passionately believe pretty much anything. The mainstream media is complicit in how they frame and promote the most divisive stories, making society appear far more angry than it really is.
Then there's the fact people have different notions of what justice entails. For some, any system which results in unequal outcomes for different groups is systematically bigoted, and everyone who doesn't champion equal outcomes is complicit. Which is why identity politics are so corrosive to liberal, pluralistic democracy - it presumes there is only one legitimate aspiration for society (equality of outcome), and only one genuine source of inequality (systemic oppression), and then it wraps up that dogma in the trappings of moral sanctimony, rendering any disagreement illegitimate.
Take a look at the graph I posted a couple days ago. Approval of interracial marriage in the U.S. has gone from 4 per cent to 87 per cent in one lifetime. That's incredible. The belief that homosexuality is immoral has plummeted. As has the belief that women should stay home barefoot and pregnant.
Why are we so fiercely resistant to recognizing progress? Why doesn't anybody want to talk about what we've been doing right, if only so we can make sure we keep doing it to sustain the remarkable run we've been on for the last century?